By BF Editors
From the November/December 2024 Issue
Business Facilities: What are some of the broad advantages for business in the southwest Louisiana region?
Gus Fontenot: Southwest Louisiana is centered around the Lake Charles metropolitan statistical area, which has a population of approximately 250,000.
The metro is served by three Class I railroads (KCS, UP, BNSF), several federal highways (U.S. 90, 190, 165, 171), and Interstate 10. The Calcasieu River Ship Channel, Intracoastal Waterway, and Mermentau River serve the South Louisiana Port Network, including the ports of Cameron Parish, Lake Charles, Mermentau, Vinton, and West Calcasieu. Two major airports include Lake Charles Regional (daily service to Houston and Dallas), and Chennault International Airport, an industrial airport with aerospace tenants and chartered flights.
A vast pipeline network ties the Lake Charles area into the petrochemical sector serving refineries, chemical manufacturers, and now carbon capture.
The workforce of southwest Louisiana populates the upstream and downstream petrochemical industry; farming and agriculture (sawmills, timber harvesting, rice and crawfish farming, etc.); and fishery industries, among others.
BF: What are leading industries? What are the growth industries?
Fontenot: The leading private sector industries for employment are the petrochemical, healthcare, and gaming industries. Targeted industries include green energy such as offshore wind, carbon capture, and solar farms. The largest individual companies in these sectors employ more than 2,000 people directly, each.
BF: What are long-standing advantages for business in southwest Louisiana?
Fontenot: Advantages for southwest Louisiana include a specially trained and skilled workforce, transportation infrastructure (railways, highways, waterways, airports), proximity to larger cities (Houston, Baton Rouge, New Orleans), and higher education programs for advanced development (McNeese State University, Sowela Technical Community College, and ABC Training Center).
BF: What are recent developments that site selection teams should know about when it comes to the business climate?
Fontenot: Southwest Louisiana has 11 LED Certified Sites (due diligence on file) with more sites pending, which help speed to market for projects looking for a quick start-up. The Louisiana Competes program is also developing improvements on some publicly-owned sites, which include waterfront properties at West Cal Port and the Port of Cameron Parish, as well as improvements at the Lacassine Industrial Park in Jeff Davis Parish. The best sites in southwest Louisiana are often publicly-owned, and are lease-only, such as at Lake Charles Regional Airport, Chennault International Airport, and the Port of Lake Charles.
BF: What is a recent relocation or expansion you’d like to tell us about?
Fontenot: Recent project wins include the announcements of the following:
- Crescent Midstream is building a carbon capture and storage unit in southwest Louisiana at the Entergy Nelson Power Plant ($1 billion cap ex).
- Ice Industries is locating its first manufacturing facility in southwest Louisiana to supply American-made products to First Solar, Inc. ($6 million cap ex, 70 jobs).
- Lake Charles Methanol II is a clean energy project announced in Lake Charles that will produce low-carbon hydrogen to be synthesized into blue methanol ($3.24 billion cap ex, 123 jobs).
BF: What is a quality of life highlight in southwest Louisiana?
Fontenot: Southwest Louisiana is known as “Sportsman’s Paradise” because of the many outdoor activities available. The area is home to the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge, the Cameron Prairies National Wildlife Preserve, the Rockefeller State Wildlife Refuge, Sam Houston Jones State Park, and the Creole Nature Trail scenic byway. Outdoor enthusiasts can enjoy plenty of waterways for boating, fishing, kayaking, beaches, and more.
BF: What does the future hold for southwest Louisiana?
Fontenot: Southwest Louisiana is at the forefront of the green energy revolution, thanks to its related workforce, infrastructure, natural geology, and familiarity of the energy industry. The area is seeing a lot of interest and activity related to offshore wind farms, solar farms, carbon capture, LNG (liquefied natural gas) export, improved technological efficiencies of existing industries, and carbon sequestration.
